3 Kim Deal Songs That Are as Cool as She Is

Kim Deal has finally released her first solo album.

In a decade when alternative rock bands dominated popular culture, Deal was a member of two of the defining bands of the 1990s—Pixies and The Breeders. Kurt Cobain was Deal’s most famous fan and invited The Breeders to open Nirvana’s 1993 tour.

However, Deal’s influence isn’t limited to Gen X. Olivia Rodrigo asked The Breeders to open some dates on her Guts Tour. In April, Rodrigo told the crowd at Madison Square Garden she sees her life in two parts: before and after she heard “Cannonball.”

To celebrate the release of Nobody Loves You More, this list highlights three songs that are as cool as Kim Deal. Let’s begin with her solo debut, and work backwards.

“Nobody Loves You More” by Kim Deal from Nobody Loves You More (2024)

It took Kim Deal nearly four decades to go solo. In some ways, her solo debut is a kind of circular evolution. Steve Albini helped engineer the album before he died earlier this year. (Albini recorded Pixies’ debut Surfer Rosa and The Breeders’ debut Pod.) Deal recorded her latest in an unassuming two-bedroom home she purchased in 1990 in Dayton, Ohio. A lush orchestra buoys the title track, rising and falling against Deal’s familiar wide-eyed perception. Like she has since Pixies’ pioneering early days, Deal sounds aloof and wise. Those are the key elements of her musical alchemy. Others just call it cool.

Perfect hosts and room ghosts shout
I don’t care what they say
They can fight it out

“Cannonball” by The Breeders from Last Splash (1993)

There’s an argument to be made that “Cannonball” is the defining song of the 1990s. Deal opens the fuzz-soaked tune by “ah-oohing” into a harmonica microphone amidst swirling feedback. Then it cuts for a quiet and clicky drum break before one of the most famous bass lines in history enters. But it’s a mistake. Bassist Josephine Wiggs slides up to the wrong note. She’s one fret off. But if you hit a wrong note, just play it again and it’s no longer wrong. When the groove kicks in, Wiggs returns to the “correct” note. So, if “Cannonball” isn’t the decade’s defining song, it’s certainly its coolest.

Spitting in a wishing well
Blown to hell, crash
I’m the last splash

“Gigantic” by Pixies from Surfer Rosa (1988)

If it weren’t for Surfer Rosa, maybe Kurt Cobain wouldn’t have written “Smells Like Teen Spirit.” This song is the only single from Pixies’ groundbreaking debut, but in less than four minutes, it transformed rock history. Deal co-wrote it with Black Francis, and her low, resonant bass playing became one of the most recognizable sounds in alternative rock. Steve Albini’s unadorned analog recording preserved the band’s rawness—highlighting the imperfections and using them as a totem. If you want to know why The Dandy Warhols wrote a song called “Cool as Kim Deal,” your answer’s in “Gigantic.”

And this I know his teeth as white as snow
What a gas it was to see him
Walk her every day into a shady place
With her lips she said

Photo by Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images